


Raise a Little Hell

by brookebond



Series: Inceptiversary 2017 [8]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: BAMF!arthur, Cheating, M/M, arthur gets arrested, but not arthur on eames or vice versa, eames is his cell mate, just tagging for safety, robert and saito barely show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 21:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11517414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookebond/pseuds/brookebond
Summary: Arthur doesn't take being cheated on very well.





	Raise a Little Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Imprisonment square on my Kink/Trope Bingo Card.  
> Thank you to pinkys_creature_feature and dandalfthedisco for reading over this.
> 
> Also, if you're looking for a little extra—the song Arthur is blasting from his car is Wicked Ones by Dorothy. Listen to it. It'll make that scene even better.

Arthur slammed the front door, fingers clenching and releasing as he stalked to his car. He had to get out of there as fast as possible. The image of Saito ploughing into Robert had completely shut him down. 

His boss. 

His  _ fucking _ boss.

They’d been having problems but Arthur had assumed that Robert would have just talked to him about them. Walking in on them fucking was enough to make Arthur wish he could scrub his eyes out of his skull.

He climbed into his car, turning the engine over and watching the front door. A part of him hoped Robert would come running out, desperately attempting to explain what Arthur had seen. But no one came. There was no movement apart from what Arthur assumed was happening in the bedroom. He shuddered at the thought and pressed his forehead to the steering wheel.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

A steady beat filled the car, thrumming through Arthur as he thought about where he could go. Ariadne was the only person he could turn to. Dom and Mal were on holiday in Paris and Arthur’s family was on the other side of the country. Ariadne was the only person he had that wouldn’t mind him crashing on her couch and drinking with him until the sun rose.

He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and unlocked it, scrolling to Ariadne’s number. The phone rang and rang and rang, going to her voicemail. What was he supposed to do?

The beat got more insistent, driving straight through Arthur. He wanted to do something, to peel out of the drive and find a bar to drown his sorrows in. But the music was relentless. He tossed his phone onto the passenger seat and turned the volume up.

Arthur was going to something reckless.

The music pounded out of his shitty speakers, making the music slightly tinny, but Arthur didn’t care. He still felt strangely calm, still was ready to do something utterly stupid. He climbed out of the car and popped the trunk, grabbing the tire iron, his fingers flexing over the cool metal.

He stalked towards Robert’s car, his precious Bentley. Arthur remembered how Robert had cooed over the thing when he’d first gotten it. It was perfect, pristine, and about to be totally wrecked.

Arthur gripped the iron in both hands and swung at the passenger window. The hit landed with a satisfying smash, glass flying everywhere. He felt good, felt amazing, and started swinging at the door. Tiny dents covered the shiny black metal but it wasn’t enough. There was still more damage to be done.

The windshield was next.

Arthur grinned and climbed on the hood, almost wishing he was wearing something other than his favourite suit. But it didn’t matter. There was still enough range of motion to swing the iron down on the windscreen. Cracks spread out until the whole thing looked like a demented spider web. Satisfaction coursed through him as he observed his handiwork.

“Drop the weapon and climb off the car, sir,” a voice called, snapping Arthur out of his trance.

He glanced over his shoulder and noticed the cop car.

“Shit,” he whispered and dropped the tire iron, wincing at the clang when it collided with the hood then rolled off onto the ground. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Climb off the car, sir, and we can discuss all of this down at the station,” the cop said, his voice annoyingly calm.

Arthur looked around, finally noticing the crowd he had drawn. His eyes landed on Robert who had pulled on a robe and was staring at Arthur. Even with the distance between them, Arthur could make out the pity in Robert’s eyes and that alone was enough to make Arthur climb down from the car.

He held his arms behind his back, not even struggling as they cuffed him then forced him into the back of the cop car. He didn’t look out of the window as they drove away, refusing to acknowledge anything besides the seat directly in front of him.

*

Jail was as fun as Arthur had always thought it would be: not at all. His fingers were stained with whatever ink they’d used on him and now his mug was in the police database. All because of Robert and Saito. His whole life had been derailed because of two other people. Arthur wasn’t going to take the blame for it and wondered if there was a way he could make Robert pay for his bail.

When they’d finally let him call someone, Arthur had successfully gotten through to Ari and explained where she could get the cash to bail him out but as it was, he had to wait until the bank opened in the morning.

The morning was going to bring its own problems as it was. Not only was Ari going to have bail him out, he was going to have to quit his job and find somewhere else to live.

Arthur wished he could have finished destroying Robert’s car. It wasn’t as though he was hurting anyone. Sure, Robert would probably have a cry over his precious Bentley being all smashed up, but it was the least he deserved for cheating on Arthur.

“Come on,” Arthur called, gripping the bars as he tried to get the cop’s attention. “It wasn’t even  _ that _ bad. You don’t know the whole story.”

“They don’t care.”

Arthur sighed heavily, pressing his forehead to the bars. They were cool, instantly refreshing after the horrible night he’d been having. Seeing Robert and Saito going at it had tempted him to burn the whole place down. Robert’s car seemed like the more reasonable option.

“So, what’d you do then?”

“Destruction of private property,” Arthur mumbled without turning around. While he was stuck in the holding cell with this guy until morning, Arthur figured he might as well play nice. “You?”

“Grand theft auto,” the guy said with a shrug.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder, frowning at him. “You’re kidding?”

“I was going to take it back.”

“Because that would have made all the difference,” Arthur muttered as he sat on the bench opposite the other guy, his back pressed against the wall.

“What’s the story then?” the guy asked, sitting up and mimicking Arthur’s own positioning.

“Hmm?”

“You said they didn’t know the whole story. What is it?”

Arthur looked at the guy across from him, taking in everything he could see. The guy was pretty; his hair dishevelled, lips pulled up in a rakish grin that really shouldn’t have been so interesting, swirls of ink peeking out from the collar of his shirt. He certainly seemed the type to have been in jail before.

“This your first time?” the guy asked, leering at Arthur.

“What’s your name?” he blurted out, trying to steer clear of the obvious innuendo being thrown at him.

“Eames. You?”

“Arthur.”

“Well, Arthur, tell me the story. I’ve got all night,” Eames said with a smirk.

Arthur refused to laugh. It was a cheap shot and he wasn’t going to give Eames the satisfaction of Arthur thinking he was funny. “My boyfriend cheated on me. I totalled his car.” Arthur shrugged, trying to play the whole thing off as nonchalantly as he possibly could even though he was freaking out like nobodies business. His whole life was destroyed and destroying a car was the cherry on top. He could only imagine the look on his mom’s face when she found out he’d been arrested.

“Sounds like he deserved it. Why would anyone cheat on you?” Eames asked, his voice awed and indignant all at the same time. “Though, the three-piece suit is a bit much. What’s it take to get you out of it?”

“Better lines than that.”

Eames laughed, eyes crinkling as he threw his head back. The long line of his neck was exposed and Arthur found himself wondering what all that stubble would feel like under his lips. Robert had never let his stubble grow. He shaved every single day and, while Arthur appreciated that he’d never had beard burn anywhere sensitive, a part of him wanted to know what it would feel like. He wanted to know if it would help remember just where a lover had been.

“Is it even possible to sleep in these places?” Arthur asked in an attempt to cover the fact that he was blushing because of his own thoughts.

“Depends in the shove anyone else in here,” Eames replied, a small smile tugging at his lips as though he knew what Arthur had been thinking. “You planning on sleeping, darling?”

“Not much else to do, is there?”

“You could tell me all about yourself.”

Arthur shuffled on the bench, trying to make himself more comfortable and failing miserably. He was never going to take his bed for granted again. Well, when he had one of his own again. In the morning, he was going to quit his job and go bed hunting.

“There’s nothing to tell,” he said, shrugging. Arthur was as boring as they came and he wasn’t interested in sharing the sordid details of how he had ended up in jail.

“I sincerely doubt that.”

Arthur frowned at Eames, trying to figure out his game. There wasn’t anything Arthur could give him. They were in a cell without any contact to the outside world.

“You think too much,” Eames murmured and lay back on the bench, folding his arms beneath his head. “What kind of car was it?”

“A Bentley.”

Eames whistled. “Did it feel good?”

“Yeah,” Arthur sighed. “Should’ve burnt the house down too.”

“You wouldn’t be getting off so easy if you had,” Eames pointed out rather unhelpfully. Trust a stranger in jail to be the logical person Arthur didn’t really want.

“So, why’d you steal a car?”

Eames glanced over at Arthur, brows raised and a smirk on his face. “Seemed like the thing to do.”

“You seriously took it for a joyride?”

Eames sat up, swinging his legs off the bench as he focused on Arthur. “Haven’t you ever done something just because you wanted to?”

Arthur shook his head, swallowing hard and looking away from Eames’ pointed gaze.

“What have you been doing with your life?”

“Following the plan,” Arthur answered, frowning as he trailed a finger along the seam of his trousers. His plan had never seemed like a bad thing before, far from it. It was how he had ended up at Saito Fischer Law and with Robert as his partner. But in light of everything that had happened in the last five hours, Arthur wondered just what good his plan was doing. He had no idea what he would do without a plan laid out in front of him. Arthur had always known what was coming next.

“Not sure you were following it properly if you’ve ended up here. Unless that was part of the plan?” Eames asked, smirking when Arthur scowled at him.

“Of course it wasn’t.”

“Pity. Seems like you could use a bit more fun.”

“I’m plenty of fun,” Arthur huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You know nothing about me.”

“Oh, darling, that sounds like a challenge,” Eames purred.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, daring Eames to continue. Most people cowered under the weight of Arthur’s full gaze but it seemed to only make Eames grow more confident as though Arthur was making the worst decision of his life. Arthur was pretty sure he’d already done that so whatever Eames was about to do wasn’t going to compare.

“I usually save that trick at least for the second date. You know, bring them back wanting more,” Eames said with a wink and Arthur couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up. He shouldn’t have been finding Eames funny at all.

“How many times have you been arrested?”

“Too many. My mother would be appalled.”

*

Ariadne was prompt, getting to the station shortly after the bank opened in the morning. Arthur had never been more grateful for his best friend than right at that moment.

“I cannot believe you were arrested,” Ariadne squealed when Arthur was finally freed from the holding cell.

“Savour it because it’s never going to happen again,” Arthur muttered mutinously, ignoring her completely when she tried to take pictures of him. He knew he probably looked a total mess. He’d spent the whole night awake talking to Eames who had turned out to be far more fascinating than Arthur had first thought.

He collected his belongings from the desk and Eames caught his eye with a small wave. Arthur barely knew the guy. One night in a holding cell together didn’t make them best friends, but his mouth still moved faster than his brain did.

“How much to bail him too?”


End file.
